Welcome to the 2017 Rackham Report

Rackham Welcomes Minority Serving Institutions Coordinator

Edmund Graham was hired as Rackham’s first Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) coordinator. In this role—which is believed to be the first of its kind in the nation—Graham assists with the strategic development of partnerships between U-M and other MSIs in an effort to attract, recruit, and retain a highly qualified, diverse graduate student community.

New DEI Professional Development Certificate Program

This year, Rackham launched a new program designed to prepare graduate students to work in a diverse environment while fostering a climate of inclusivity. The program, which was designed in response to student feedback, recognizes a relatively new and rapidly growing movement among employers, both within and outside of the academy, to require job applicants to demonstrate a commitment to diversity. The first year saw 174 applicants from 13 schools and colleges.

Other Highlights

• The MORE (Mentoring Others Results in Excellence) committee engages with faculty and graduate students to foster mentoring conversations. As of this year, the committee has worked with 678 faculty members and 405 graduate students, and it has added a new module, “Mentoring Across Difference.”
• Faculty Allies work within their programs in collaboration with Rackham’s diversity initiatives and can partner with Student Allies. In 2017, 12 Faculty Ally and seven Student Ally grants were awarded.
• Rackham developed relationships with university partners like the Center for Research on Learning and Teaching to offer a slate of DEI workshops for our students.
• LGTBQ+ and Student-Parent Programming committees were formed, and Rackham tripled programming for graduate-student affinity groups.
• In partnership with Services for Students with Disabilities, Rackham developed digital and in-person programming to better serve this population.

Students by Division

History of the Barbour Scholarship

Travelling in Asia in 1913, Regent Levi Lewis Barbour met three women in China and Japan who had been trained in medicine at the University of Michigan. Inspired by their remarkable contributions to those countries’ welfare and development, he cultivated his vision to endow a scholarship to prepare Asian women as leaders in their home countries and to facilitate understanding between Eastern and Western cultures.

In the past century, more than 700 extraordinary women from over 25 countries have been appointed as Barbour Scholars. They have served as university presidents and educators, senators and ambassadors, researchers and industry leaders, and in a variety of other noteworthy roles. Currently, around 200 reside in the United States, and 261 can be found abroad—Levi Barbour’s living global legacy.

Barbour Scholar Centennial Celebration

The two-day celebration kicked off with a lecture titled “Asian Studies at the University of Michigan: A Brief History” from Professor Donald Lopez, chair of Asian languages and cultures. He emphasized the historical context of Levi Barbour’s generous endowment, including how revolutionary a gift of this kind was at a time when the world was far from peaceful and international relations were complicated.

Barbour alumnae and current scholars also had the opportunity to take a campus tour and visit the University of Michigan Museum of Art. A special part of the UMMA tour included viewing a Chinese ceramic piece titled Tomb Guardian donated by Barbour alumna Jiu-Hwa Lo Upshur.

One of the highlights of the Centennial Celebration was the student and alumnae panel, titled “100 Years of Opportunity: Asian Women’s Global Engagement.” Five panelists, Dr. Meera Sampath, Dr. Heasook Rhee, Dr. Wing Li, and Ph.D. candidates Niloufar Emami and Amrita Dhar, shared their experiences as Barbour Scholars, as well as what it was like to travel to the United States from their home countries to pursue a U-M education.

To conclude, the Rackham Graduate School hosted a celebratory dinner during which Interim Dean Michael Solomon presented Barbour Scholars and alumnae with pins resembling those worn by scholars in the 1930s. The dinner served as an opportunity for informal conversation and sharing of experiences among current scholars, alumnae, Rackham staff, and others in attendance.

While each of the Barbour Scholars had varying experiences, their anecdotes shared a common theme—they were all incredibly grateful. They expressed thankfulness for not only the endowment established by Levi Barbour 100 years ago, but also the welcoming nature of Ann Arbor, the opportunity to study at the University of Michigan, and the chance to connect with scholars who came before and after them. Now, we look forward to the next 100 years of the Barbour Scholarship.

The Barbour Scholar Centennial Celebration was sponsored in part by a grant from the University of Michigan Bicentennial Office.